Cub Cadet Z, SX54

[Cwight]

Hi Everyone.
I’m a novice at mowing, but I’ve just got a Cub Cadet, Z Force SX54. Tried it today and it seems fine, but at times it was driving a bit like a kangaroo, not smoothly, but kind of jumping forward. Exacerbated by my foot coming off the forward pedal on every jump. The ground was a bit damp, could that be it or is there some other explanation?

 

[ILENGINE]

Could be something else but I would start with inspecting the drive belt for the hydrostat pumps A missing section of belt or something else with the belt could cause slippage on the drives under load making it feel erratic.

 

[bertsmobile1]

and check the brake is off
For some strange reason people seem to thin bypassing brke & seat switches is a smart thing to do .

 

[arturowesley]

and check the brake is off
For some strange reason people seem to thin bypassing brke & seat switches is a smart thing to do .

Is it not a good idea to bypass brake and seat switches? Other than for safety reasons.

 

[bertsmobile1]

On ZTRs the brake & lap bars are interlocked so you can not drive away with the brake on
I have had mowers in the workshop with destroyed parking brakes because the owner dissabled the brake switch then drove around with the brake on
Not only does it wreck the brakes it overloads the hydros .
On Z tracks you can rip the rear tyres on other domestic ZTR's you rip the teeth off the external brake rack, on commercial ones with motorcycle style brakes you overload the hydros plus wearing or even breaking the brake calipers or actuators .

 

[StarTech]

Sorry Bert but the SX54 has a steering wheel and no lap bars. Plus it has a separate brake pedal.

On top of that several models of Cubs have a separate brake even when they have lap bars which means yes you can try to move them the brakes on if the safety is disabled.

 

[bertsmobile1]

I was not being model specific .
It was a generic answer to a generalized question about the stupidity of bypassing safety switches.
The problem applies to all ZTR's because there is no combined clutch & brake pedal it is possible to attempt to make them move with the parking brake still applied .
Thankfully the 2 customers with steering wheel Cubs finally sold them so I don't have to work on these POS any more .
Good idea in theory, same as the smart ignition switch but a bad idea in practice because the designers have never worked in a repair shop or probably even driven a ride on mower .

 

[StarTech]

I was thinking more those models I work on that have mechanical interlock brakes so I am also off base too as I didn't consider electrical interlocks.

And that Cub steering system looks to be a nightmare to work on. I have been lucky on only need to work on the JD SST16 here. Even it is a pain to operate on hillsides as you got to crab to the uphill side.

 

[Cwight]

Could be something else but I would start with inspecting the drive belt for the hydrostat pumps A missing section of belt or something else with the belt could cause slippage on the drives under load making it feel erratic.

It’s brand new. Still I’ll check that. The brake is definitely fully off.

 

[Cwight]

Thanks for all the replies btw.